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Geaend ftnctiire 

Like aU Uto*Aztecan languages^ Hopi is relative(y siinple. It biM iio 
UMie or f;i|t«li md no (^lyativity; it (lo^abow sorne incofporatiQii, 
tiK)ugfi, for j^^ as, ^aiMd bejpw, Nouos and vcibs are 
modified by deeiensioiis and OMJUfations, though to a lesser extent 
than in Latin or Germim^ The^ftawral sentence structure is subject- 
obj(k:t-vdfb, 1)y t i^Ner 0^ ait jmsibie. i^ntfehcei often cidnuin a 
particle thft tetU itibie aboiit the ^|ff^ U^ sdnUmce; an ttumplt 
is the particle yaw, which indidtt^ that tlie sehtende is hearsay evi- 
dence Ctbey say ...*)• 

The dictionary forma of vafy.||^py;H^ vf09i$.^pm^ pf % Qpn- 
sonant, a short or kmg vqwel, itMier ctmaomnt mi fiiiaiiy a shbit 
vowel: 

tsiro - bifd 
qddtsa - white 
kmiki - to bite 

Here the ts touAts as ode conaqii»i(t, as expl^iA^kl-Mow. Modified 
woids (words that have a dtfftfi^l^ the 

sentence) and ^sntall words* ofllsi)i IK^tite fitm^^ siiiiiple ptltem, as 
the above word t:i2]np ^aithe mem idge shows. 

Many wonte have a special icM^ when thfey come at the end of a 
sentence; these ait called 'pauiiiit ibrms'. An example isy^*i 
from the above ya%r. pam put kttukl yaw ' 1 « Ae/jAe ^Imi/Aer 
bitthty-say » /Ve he^d he/she biihimfher. 

Hopi has no gender distinctions; that is, there is no difference 
between *he\ •she' and *it\ not even tn the pronouns. 

Although many modified forms can be derived from their base 
form by simple rules, quite a number of them are irregular, and have 
to be learned by heart, like the German irregular plurals or the English 



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irregular verbs. On top of that, some modified forms bear no relation 
to the base form at all (as the past tense went from the English present 
go). An example is: 

vuuti - woman 
momoyam ; women 

Such forms are called 'suppletive\ 



Grune, Dick. 1991. Hopi, Survey of an Uto-Aztecan 
Language. Wales: Cyhoeddwr Joseph Biddulph.